Aleafia Health Inc (V:ALEF) Inc., a rapidly growing Ontario-based company, Feb. 21 was named the Toronto Stock Exchange’s Venture 50’s top performing company of the year. The announcement marks the first time a cannabis company has captured the honour, highlighting another indication of how the emerging marijuana sector is beginning to punch above its weight.
The award is based on three equally weighted criteria – market capitalization growth, share price appreciation and trading volume – according to a statement released by the company.
The company’s stock, valued at $2.53 a share during afternoon trading on Feb. 22, has a market capitalization of $397.22 million. Its stock has seen a 268.12-percent increase over the course of the last year, which was been mark by a spike to $3.97 a share in September 2018, just days before marijuana was legalized in Canada.
Aleafia operates the country’s largest network of referral-only medical cannabis clinics in the country through a subsidiary and is aimed at being “Canada’s leading patient-focused health-care enterprise offering medical cannabis care.” It’s mission, according to the firm’s statement, is to build a global cannabis brand.
“Building on a strong foundation, Aleafia Health has had a landmark year,” said CEO Geoff Benic. “In that time, we have purchased and brought our modern, automated green house to a grow-ready state, launched our recreational retail and brands division … and built a base of over 50,000 medical patients.”
Last December, Aleafia announced the acquisition of Emblem Corp., a licensed producer of medical cannabis that had been created by former heath-care and pharmaceutical executives, specializing in pharmaceutical research and development in the field. It has the capacity to cultivate and cure 98,000 kilograms of cannabis.
Up until recently, the TSX Venture listing has been dominated by resource and mining firms.